The shadow of cash-for-comment and influence wielding by talkback announcers raised its head again last week in Sydney.

John Laws has signed a “personal endorsement” deal with Telstra worth about $300,000 and to mark the deal included an interview with Telstra’s Chairman Bob Mansfield in his program. The deal was declared on the 2UE website as required by the station’s licence conditions, but the cost of the deal was not listed accurately enough. The ABA has asked the station for an explanation and Laws apologised for the mistake on air.

As well as the personal deal with Laws, Telstra has taken a standard advertising contract with 2UE for spots in the John Laws program and has also booked advertising in the Alan Jones show on 2GB. Neither of these straight advertising deals breaches ABA requirements.

Commenting on the deal in The Australian, Telstra spokesperson Ted Pretty said, “I’m quite happy with the deal and I’m not embarrassed or concerned about it in the least… ordinary Australian’s don’t care.”

Telstra has been criticised for wasting public funds on the advertising as it campaigns to convince people in the bush that its service level is increasing.

On the issue of influence wielding, 2GB’s Ray Hadley has been accused of applying “significant pressure” against a development proposal in the suburb of Dural, where he lives. The developers of projects, opposed by Hadley on air, have asked the state ombudsman to investigate whether there was undue influence on the council’s zoning decision against the development.